I've been lucky enough to see him play at various venues over the years, from Wisconsin, to Illinois and my recent third time concert here in Minneapolis ( -- ok, ok, St. Paul).
I thought the concert last night was GREAT. Even though the concert was crowded, and some of the more rowdy faithful must have thought we were 'hangin' at the bar' (and not a concert/radio show venue), the sound was terrific (we had seats in back of the first balcony).
Personally, I really liked the fact that the concert was pretty low tech -- meaning, just piano, guitar and violins. It allowed for more of an "intimate" feel (even with the rowdy fans present) and allowed Todd (and Joe Jackson) some flexibility to change the structure of some of the tunes (eg: "I Saw The Light"; "Hello It's Me"; "Black Maria", etc.).
I thought Todd's voice sounded great (much better than his 2004 stop at the Fitzgerald, where I believe he was getting over a cold). Yes, he's older -- but aren't we all? Isn't that kind of the point? He's older; we're older and we are still making noise!
I also really enjoyed the playlist -- I'm a bigger fan of Todd's "swoon tunes", as I call them. "Viking Song" and "Bang the Drum" are always fun too. Probably my favorite song of the night was the encore rendition of "Pretending to Care". I loved how Todd's voice sounded; thought the backup on piano by Joe Jackson was great and the violins via Ethel ROCKED. (By the by, contrary to one other previous review of this song by another person that didn't like this live version, the crowd gave the group a standing ovation at the end of this song.. so it wasn't just me who thought this version was fantastic).
I also thought Joe Jackson was terrific and playful with the crowd. The man plays a mean piano...Ethel was a surprising treat too.
Keep it up Todd! Have a great rest of your tour and see you when you hit the Twin Cities again. (Oh, word of advise: come in July. The likelihood of any snow being seen outside your hotel window will be really, really small. Just don't confused the mosquitoes for a snowflake!)
